Numerous board games have been invented for amusement purposes employing different techniques of playing piece manipulation. The game of checkers matches two opponents beginning with an initial array of an equivalent number of playing pieces aligned in staggered relationship on ajoining squares of a common color on a checkerboard. The checker pieces are moved diagonally forward one space at a time with the objective of reaching the opponent's side of the board. When confronted with an opposing playing piece, a checker can be used to jump diagonally over that piece, thereby removing the opposing piece, provided that a vacant checker square lies behind the confronting playing piece. In the game of checkers all playing pieces are of equal value and move the same number of squares until reaching the opposite side of the playing board.
The game of chess is likewise played on a checkerboard, but involves playing pieces capable of preforming different moves. During the course of the game of chess, a player attempts to remove various of the opponents pieces from the board by moving his own pieces onto spaces occupied by pieces of the opponents. The primary objective is to capture the opponent's King which is achieved by placing the opponent's King in checkmate. As in checkers, the progress of the game is gauged by comparing the number of pieces removed from the board by the two opponents.
A different type of board game requires the participants to each select a single playing piece. This piece is then advanced from location to location around the perimeter of a board, the number of steps in each advance being determined by some means of chance, usually dice. The different locations at which playing pieces might arrive involve various opportunities, rewards or penalties. The progress of the game is usually measured by comparing the relative accumulation of tokens, usually involving monetary facsimiles or property. Variations of this type of game offer participants the opportunity to deviate from the main avenue of progression under prescribed conditions. Although temporary deviations are allowed, the participants must nevertheless return to the main pathway at some point. This particular type of board game involves but a single token, or playing piece for each participant, and the pieces of all participants are advanced along a common path or prescribed alternative paths.
Yet a further type of board game is the type that may be designated generally under the classification of "war" games. Such games may or may not involve playing pieces and board markings bearing indicia of actual armed combat. Nevertheless such games, in one form or another involve a confrontation between "armies," "navies," or "airforces." The object of this type of game is not to reach any particular designation, but instead to move one's pieces and to conduct one's actions so as to fulfill the requirements for removing portions of the opponent's forces. Progress of the game is measured by the relative aggregate strength of each players forces, with the ultimate object being the anihilation of the opponents forces.
The present invention offers an entirely new concept in board game playing piece manipulation. Rather than using a single mobile playing piece during any one move to advance independently or operate upon other inanimate playing pieces, the present invention involves the movement of a selected playing piece in a dynamic fashion to impart motion to other playing pieces. The principal under which motion is imparted is similar to the principal of Newtonian physics which prescribes that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thus, as with rocket ships and billiard balls a force is used to operate upon one entity, such as a playing piece, to impart movement to adjacent entities. The force employed is not a real force resulting from potential or kenetic energy such as by striking the piece, but rather is an imaginary force attributed to the playing piece sought to be moved. Thus, one playing piece may be attributed a relative force or energy level of "5" while another playing piece may be assigned a higher or lower value, such as "4" or "6." The various playing pieces retain the assigned level of "force" or "pressure" throughout the game, the numerical value of each of which dictates the total impact of moves initiated using that playing piece. However, movement of the various pieces is frequently performed under the control of other playing pieces, and thus, playing pieces are manipulated in accordance with the values assigned to other pieces, rather than the value assigned to the piece actually undergoing motion or progression across the board.
Another way of viewing the movement of the playing pieces of the present invention is in accordance with the principals of momentum or inertia. According to the principal of conservation of momentum, when two or more bodies collide with each other, momentum is conserved. That is, the total momentum before impact equals the total momentum after impact. According to the laws of physics which encompass the property of inertia of matter, matter retains its state of rest or of uniform rectilinear motion so long as it is not acted upon by an external force. However, when an external force is imparted from a mobile playing piece to another otherwise inaminate playing piece, the previously mobile playing piece becomes inanimate upon striking a playing piece located adjacent thereto, which latter piece thence is set in motion. The kinetic energy released by the playing piece imparting the motion is transferred to the piece previously at rest. This is similar in effect to striking one billiard ball with another. Because the billiard balls are of equal mass, a direct impact of one billiard ball against another transfers virtually all of the kinetic energy from the ball initially in motion to a ball initially at rest. The ball previously at rest is set in motion while the ball previously in motion is halted in its movement.
It is to be understood that in connection with the present invention that the concepts of force and pressure are symbolic only and are embodied in intergal numbers assigned to the various playing pieces. The actual physical force with which one playing piece is used to impart motion to another is totally irrelevant to the fundamental concept of the invention. Rather, it is the concept of an idealized force associated with a particular playing piece set in motion that governs the movement of a previously inanimate playing piece located in the path of the playing piece initiating movement.